She told The Mail: "People don’t seem to know the difference between want and need,

"They might think, 'Ooh, I need a new phone', but I’d say: 'If your old one works, then you don’t need a new one.'"

If you have a Starbucks or Pret habit, this woman considers you a laughing stock.

She told the tabloid: ‘Never ever buy coffee in a cardboard takeaway cup. I laugh at those people!’

Her hairdryer is more than 30 years old, her microwave is at least 20 and her stair carpet is patched with silver gaffer tape.

She has also revealed the contents of her fridge. It contains two 10p cauliflowers a week past their sell-by dates, a packet of yellowing broccoli (10p), six tomatoes (10p), three yoghurts for 35p, some stir-fry mix, a pack of browning mushrooms and some fresh ham for her dog and three cats.

Ilona is a vegetarian - as it is much cheaper.

The pensioner makes a vegetable stew out of out-of-date ingredients and lives off it for a week.

She claims to eat very well - never has processed food and eats treats such as ice cream made out of whizzed-up frozen banana slices.

Unlike many pensioners, she has her own blog, full of money saving tips.

Although she could probably advertise on the website, she keeps it simple and advertisement free, and writes about her recipes and favourite walks.

Despite living frugally, she's always been ambitious and worked hard all her life.

She grew up in Burton-on-Trent, where her dad worked in a bakery, her mum in a factory canteen and she and her two siblings got themselves up and ready for school and did chores around the house.

"My ambition was to earn my own money. I was very independent."

She proved this ambition by leaving school at 15 and after jobs in leather shops, the pick ’n’ mix counter at Woolworths and on Blackpool Pleasure Beach, at the age of 27 she found her dream job — HGV driving.

"I’d just look at lorries and drool. I knew there’d be prejudice, but that’s what I wanted to do."

She bought her first house before she was 30, never married, but says she’s had a ‘very hectic’ love life over the years and insists she has never wanted children or been lonely.

Although she's been widely labelled as stingy, she does know how to enjoy a treat.

She will treat herself to the occasional bag of chips, sometimes enjoys a can of cider or a bottle of wine, and has just bought herself a ticket to see Lesley Garrett in concert to mark her birthday in May.

The pensioner told The Mail "People keep saying I’m mean. But I’m not mean; I’m careful and I’m very proud of the way I live."